SPAR pilots NCR self-checkout in Slovenia

NCR self-checkouts to save shoppers time and money in Slovenian stores of the worlds largest food retail chain

NCR self-checkouts to save shoppers time and money in Slovenian stores of the world’s largest food retail chain

SPAR, the world’s largest food retail chain with nearly 126,800 stores in 32 countries, has signed an order with NCR Corporation to install self-checkouts in 12 SPAR INTERSPAR hypermarkets in Slovenia.

The deployment of the 52 NCR SelfServ self-checkouts, enabling consumers to scan, bag and pay for goods themselves, was signed with the support of Printec, NCR solutions partner in Eastern Europe. If successful, NCR SelfServ Checkouts could be deployed to other SPAR stores in Slovenia in 2010.

Austria SPAR International AG (Aspiag), SPAR Slovenia’s parent company, grew by 10% to generate €10.7 billion (£9.4bn) in retail sales in 2008. The self-checkout initiative is designed to continue this growth trajectory by increasing customer service levels and enabling it to operate more cost effectively.

Maximising productivity gains

Aspiag commented in a statement: “Just being a convenience provider offering a great product range at great prices is not enough for SPAR. We want to make it as easy as possible to shop at our outlets every single day and believe self-checkout will help us meet that goal. It will enable us to make more paypoints available in-store for customers and free up staff to improve the availability of products in our stores and help shoppers locate items.”

The solution's enhanced design also provides operational efficiencies for retailers and customers. NCR SelfServ Checkout features NCR’s patented two-sided thermal receipt printer, which enables simultaneous printing on both sides of a receipt, reducing paper consumption by up to 45% and speeding up print times. In addition, NCR said its RealPOS High Performance Scanner/Scale offers superior scanning performance to help make self-checkout scanning even quicker for consumers.

Experienced provider guides project

NCR’s self-service Customer Experience Consulting team assisted SPAR Slovenia with the right checkout configuration and the implementation of operational “best practices” to ensure the optimum customer and staff experience.

Greg Mann, NCR SelfServ Checkout solution Specialist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, added: “Consumers across the world are demanding the speed, convenience and control offered by self-service. Indeed, research shows that shoppers are more likely to shop with a retailer that provides self-checkout technology. SPAR is a great innovator and is differentiating itself from competitors by offering its customers market leading self-checkout technology.”